February 15

We know that God is of purer eyes than to behold sin. We know that as Jesus hung on the cross, God turned His back on Him because at that juncture in time, Jesus was laden with an incalculable sin burden—ours. This is sobering information and it is instructive. If we want to get anywhere in prayer, we must approach our Holy God cleansed and renewed.

That cleansing comes through the blood of Christ. Once we are washed free of all our sin, we may approach unto the very throne of the Living and Eternal God. Like Paul, we may be entangled in the very human distractions that compel us into our old way of living, and like Paul we must die to our old nature daily.

As the psalmist recognized his need to approach God cleansed, so must we. As it says in Psalm 26:6,7, “I will wash my hands in innocence and go about Your altar, O Lord, that I may make the voice of thanksgiving heard and may tell all of Your wonderful works.”

To be fit for His use, we must be bathed in Christ’s blood, we must be cleansed from the accumulated grime of existing on this fallen planet, and we must be thankful that HE has provided the way for our cleansing. When we have been renewed and are thankful, He uses us to reveal His glory to others.